If You Tell a Pickpocket to Save the Male Lead

In the middle of the night, Estribal opened the mansion door, which was entwined with ivy.

As usual, he had taken a few lives today. But it didn’t matter. If he could regain the power of the spirit Serpiente, he could correct everything. His guilt was buried over time.

He neatly arranged his hair, which he had loosely tied to hide his face, and as he entered the mansion, the servant bowed in front of him.

“Duke. There is something to report about Cello… no, Ciello.”

Estribal opened his mouth expressionlessly.

“Report.”

“I think it would be better if you check it out yourself.”

“Me, that woman, personally?”

Estribal asked with an uncomfortable expression, but the servant bowed their head deeply again with an apologetic face. He sighed and headed towards Ciello’s room.

Estribal hesitated for a while, clenching and unclenching his fist in front of Ciello’s room.

His face, which was expressionless even after killing people, showed an unknown fear and tension. And it seemed a little excited.

After a long pause, he finally took a deep breath as if he had made up his mind and knocked.

“I’m coming in.”

What he saw when he opened the door and entered was Ciello, sitting huddled on the bed.

“…Explain what happened.”

Ciello did not answer. He sighed deeply and reluctantly moved towards Ciello.

As the distance between the two people got closer, Ciello turned her head towards him. Only then could he smell the strong stench on his clothes.

‘I should have changed my clothes.’

He regretted belatedly and stopped. Ciello licked her lips.

“That magician, she was a friend who stole my money and ran away.”

Slowly, Ciello’s color came into his eyes. Red hair, similarly reddened eyes. The moment he saw that color, Estribal clenched his fist so hard that his nails dug into his palm.

“That’s…regrettable.”

Despite the true feelings, the conversation stopped at his monotonous response. After a moment of contemplation, Estribal spoke again.

“If you want to change the magician…”

“Do you know what I’m most angry about?”

Ciello cut him off. But Estribal didn’t scold her and just stared at Ciello. Ciello mumbled while staring intently at the purse of gold coins on the table.

“Even then, I painstakingly brought that.”

Blue veins popped out on the back of her hand that was clutching the bed sheet.

“What is that? Really, what is that!”

Ciello suddenly stood up and threw the purse of gold coins on the floor. A few coins bounced out and hit Estribal’s shoes.

“What’s the use of having 600 million? I’m stuck and can’t move because of this one thing.”

Ciello clenched her teeth, but tears started to stream down from her gray eyes.

“You wouldn’t understand, would you, Duke? It’s trivial and funny, right?”

Her soaked eyes stared at Estribal.

In Ciello’s eyes, he would only appear as a nobleman who tried to kill herself several times. But.

“…No.”

At his denial, Ciello shut her mouth tightly. The look in her eyes that said she couldn’t believe him at all stung his body.

Would he regret it? Was it a foolish impulse?

But from the moment he saw Ciello’s colors, he couldn’t hold back these words.

“I invite you. To go with this Foolish Duke for a trip.”

****

The next morning, Ciello, dressed in loose gardener’s clothes, peeked her head out in front of the mansion. A few ordinary servants who didn’t hide their eyes alternately looked at Ciello and the mansion and whispered to each other.

“You’re new, right? You’re a gardener?”

One of the servants asked Ciello. When Ciello nodded her head while looking at the situation, the servants whispered to each other again.

It was rudeness that couldn’t be imagined from the servants of the Duke’s mansion, but Ciello, who didn’t know the situation, patiently waited for Estribal.

After a while, Estribal, no. Duke Trepe came out of the mansion.

“Oh my…”

Ciello’s eyes widened. The one who came out of the mansion was the same foolish nobleman that Ciello first met.

His hair, which was loosely tied into one, was rolled up roundly, and the bangs that should naturally fall were fixed with a pin. The vague smile on his lips made him look more naive than pleasant. Above all, even the thick-framed glasses.

‘Really a bit…’

Ciello’s expression twisted strangely at the sight of him. But the other servants, perhaps used to it, bowed their heads and giggled.

“Ciello.”

The Duke spoke to Ciello affectionately. When Ciello, who didn’t realize that was her name, was blankly standing there, the Duke opened his mouth again.

“Ciello. We have to get on the carriage quickly. We agreed to go to the garden together, didn’t we?”

“Huh? Yes…Yes!”

Ciello, who was out of her mind, quickly ran to the carriage in front of the mansion.

“Oh my, it seems like she’s going to ride the carriage too.”

“Should I have become a gardener too? I was crazy about horticulture…”

Ciello felt a sting in her back as she climbed into the carriage. As the Duke followed Ciello into the carriage, the large wheel slowly rolled.

The window was not curtained, so it clearly showed the outside. It felt like it was left open to show the people who were curiously peeking into the carriage.

“Um, Duke, those servants just now…”

“They are the servants of the first floor. They do not cover their eyes, but they are blind.”

The Duke did not explain further.

As they passed through the bustling streets, people began to laugh at the carriage.

“Here comes the Foolish Duke!”

Ciello flinched at the loud noise that could be heard inside the carriage and looked at the Duke, but he showed no reaction.

“Where is the Foolish Duke going? He’s leisurely going to the flower garden!”

After a while, a few children who were laughing loudly blocked the front of the carriage and started singing. Ciello, who was rolling her feet, half-rose from her seat.

“Duke, should I go out and say something…!”

“No.”

The Duke slightly lowered his glasses. His naive smile was still there, but his golden eyes that did not lose their sharpness met Ciello’s.

“Watch carefully.”

He whispered so that only Ciello could hear, and without giving Ciello a chance to answer, he got off the carriage. Ciello, with a confused expression, held onto the window frame of the carriage with both hands and watched his retreating figure.

“Hehe. Kids. The Duke is surprised, isn’t he.”

The children’s father approached the children. The children threw wooden sticks and ran to hide behind him, sticking out their tongues.

“Duke Trepe.”

“Yes. Viscount.”

“My children are brave. They take after me.”

“I know, of course. It’s not a day or two’s work.”

The Duke, one of the few in the empire, bowed to a mediocre Viscount and used respectful language. It was a strange situation, but no one pointed it out. They just giggled and watched.

“Do you have anything else to say?”

“I’m sorry, but my carriage needs to pass. Could you, could you move aside?”

“I can do that much. From now on, pass through a less noticeable road, not this big one.”

The viscount chuckled. The Duke awkwardly added to his laughter without even noticing it.

“Thank you, Viscount. Oh, by the way, when can I get the seeds you mentioned? Spring is coming soon, so it’s almost time for sowing…Rhododendrons like warmth…” (TL: Rhododendron is a Latinization of the Greek words Rhodon, meaning ‘rose (color)’, and Dendron, meaning ‘tree’)

As the Duke quickly muttered, the viscount put out his hand with a bored expression.

“Stop it. Shouldn’t the ship enter the port first? Anyway, it’s a story only I know…”

At his words, the Duke’s shoulders sagged. There was no trace of ‘Estribal’s attitude in ‘Duke Trepe’.

“I understand. I’ll wait.”

“Do you think everything can be done with money…Well, go ahead.”

The viscount clicked his tongue and turned his body. The Duke’s head, which was bowed, was pierced like an arrow with the scornful criticism that he was pathetic.

“Is he going on about plants again? He’s so tactless…”

“He’s crazy, totally crazy.”

After some time passed and the murmuring of the people subsided, the Duke climbed into the carriage.

The Duke pulled the cord to draw the thick curtains on the window, took off his thick-rimmed glasses, and pressed his forehead.

Then a low voice flowed from his mouth.

“You must have seen it all clearly.”

Ciello, who was holding onto the window frame until her hands turned pale, turned her body. Her eyes were red as if she was more wronged.

“…I didn’t know it would be this much.”

“Right. It’s quite trivial and funny, isn’t it?”

“Is it the Emperor’s command? Do you really have to live like that? Isn’t it suffocating?”

Ciello fired off a barrage of questions. Estribal chuckled and replied.

“You have a lot of questions and a lot of crying.”

“I’m not crying, okay? But really, this is…”

Ciello pressed her eyes hard with her fist. Estribal slowly rubbed his face and pulled out the pin that had been holding his bangs and tossed it away.

“Perhaps my last task will be to separate the power of Serpiente, who is embedded in you.”

“Oh… is that so?”

“Yes. Once this is over, I can quit being the Foolish Duke.”

He leaned his head against the carriage as if tired. His side profile showed signs of fatigue. In the silence, only the carriage wheels rolled with a sweet sound. After a while, Estribal opened his mouth.

“We’re here. Get off.”

Ciello got off the carriage. Under the sunset sky, flowers of various colors were spread out endlessly. Ciello opened her mouth and looked at the scenery and murmured.

“Wow…it’s really beautiful…”

Estribal, who also got off the carriage after her, also stopped in his tracks as if nailed to the spot. After a long silence, he opened his mouth.

“Yes…I see.”

Cielo reached out to touch a flower and then looked back at Estribal. He, the owner of the flower garden, had an expression like someone seeing flowers for the first time.

“Don’t touch  it.”

But when Ciello blinked once, his face had already returned to being expressionless.

“Most of them are poisonous.”

“Poisonous?”

Ciello, taken aback, widened her eyes. He replied coldly.

“Do you think I grew these flowers because they are pleasing to the eye? To my eyes, they are just poison sacs.”

“But they’re so pretty…”

Ciello looked at the flowers and murmured in a regretful voice. A breeze blew and the scent of flowers spread. The clear scent that was hard to think of as poisonous tickled the tips of their noses. For a moment, Estribal’s pupils shook fiercely again, but this time Ciello didn’t see his face.

Estribal opened his mouth in a somewhat softened voice.

“…Your words are not entirely wrong.”

“Right?”

Ciello turned around with a bright smile. Estribal, who was watching Ciello’s smile against the backdrop of flowers, quietly opened his mouth.

“Ciello.”